The program, organized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, is a non-regulatory federal-state-local collaboration working to restore water quality and conserve the natural resources of the bay system adjacent to Ocean City, Maryland and Assateague Island.

The partnership works with municipalities, non-profits, governmental agencies, and businesses; and helps develop, find funding for, and implement projects and programs aimed at improving the health of the estuary.

[1] The program operates the Maryland Coastal Bays Foundation (IRS EIN 52-2123356), a private, non-profit corporation which develops and implements a Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for Maryland’s Coastal Bays and supports conservation and educational activities.

[2] The program has conducted environmental monitoring of HABs offshore from the bays, focusing on nutrient pollution and occurrences of Dinophysis, Karenia and Pseudo-nitzschia.

[2] In 2021 the program worked with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to establish a nesting project for Common terns on an artificial island in Chincoteague Bay.